Aortic dissection is a rare and a life threatening event. Classically, aortic dissection presents as sudden, severe chest, back or abdominal pain that is characterized as ripping or tearing in nature. However, a timely diagnosis can be elusive in the event of an atypical presentation. So, a high index of ...

The pathway from viral myocarditis to end-stage heart failure is commonly accepted, but diagnosis of virus-mediated myocardial injury remains challenging. Virus persistency in the myocardium may accelerate ventricular failure; thus, a precise diagnosis of virus persistency may prevent the development of end-stage heart failure. We performed a systematic investigation on ...

CONTEXT: Thoracic epidural anaesthesia (TEA) is increasingly used in high-risk surgical patients. We recently demonstrated that TEA-mediated cardiac sympathicolysis prevents the native right ventricular positive inotropic response to the induction of acute pulmonary hypertension. OBJECTIVES: In this subsequent study, we induced a selective TEA after acute pulmonary hypertension had been ...

A 37-year-old woman, otherwise healthy, had an acute myocardial infarction associated with acute left ventricular failure during an elective caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia. Emergency coronary catheterisation postoperatively revealed a probable dissection distally in the D1 branch of the left anterior descending artery. We review the recent literature and case ...

We present a case of an anomalous right coronary artery (RCA) originating from the opposite aortic sinus causing a transmural inferior myocardial infarction in a former competitive cyclist, followed by a brief discussion of the epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis and treatment of this coronary anomaly.

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are increasingly used to treat patients with refractory heart failure. Current-generation LVADs have major limitations, including the need for open chest surgery, limiting their widespread use. We hypothesized that the aortoatrial continuity could be used as a unique anatomic vantage point for entirely percutaneous LVAD ...

Intensive glucose lowering has previously been shown to increase mortality among persons with advanced type 2 diabetes and a high risk of cardiovascular disease. This report describes the 5-year outcomes of a mean of 3.7 years of intensive glucose lowering on mortality and key cardiovascular events. We randomly assigned participants ...

: The purpose of this study was to develop a new method for minimally invasive mitral valve repair under direct endoscopic visualization in the beating heart. : Fiberoptic cardioscopy of the left heart was conducted in 12 calves. Systemic perfusion was maintained by cardiopulmonary bypass through a median sternotomy. A ...

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a serious disease with potentially high mortality and morbidity. Early diagnosis is essential to identify the disease when the left ventricular systolic function is relatively intact, since survival and recovery are both improved by early detection. This patient-administered, easily understood test helps patients to clearly distinguish common ...

The prevalence of the risk factors and the risk of cardiac failure are both increasing in China. This might be the consequence of the changes of the life conditions (emigration to the urban areas, changes in the diet and life style, lack of physical exercise, etc.). The wide range of ...

African-American race and decreased kidney function have been associated with higher mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, whether there are racial differences in the prevalence or prognostic importance of renal insufficiency in AMI is unknown. Among 1847 AMI patients enrolled in the multicenter Prospective Registry Evaluating Myocardial Infarction Event ...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of the myocardial performance index (MPI), assessed by color-coded tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) M-mode through the anterior mitral leaflet. Color TDI M-mode through the mitral leaflet is an easy, very fast, and precise method to estimate cardiac intervals and ...

The safety and efficacy of the XIENCE V everolimus-eluting stent (EES) compared to the Taxus Express(2) paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) has been demonstrated through 2 years in the SPIRIT II and III randomized clinical trials, but limited longer-term data have been reported. In the SPIRIT III trial, 1,002 patients with up ...

Cardiac involvement is an uncommon complication of echinococcosis. It is usually asymptomatic and may only be diagnosed incidentally. A 7-year-old boy was admitted with acute stroke and bullous and ulcerated skin lesions. He was diagnosed with cardiac echinococcosis complicated by systemic emboli to the central nervous system and superficial cutaneous ...

The authors report a case of cerebral infarction in a young woman with no obvious risk factors for stroke. The use of effective cardiac imaging enabled a diagnosis of mitral valve papillary fibroelastoma to be made and aided effective surgical management.

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and bioimpedance vector analysis (BIVA) are potential methods of assessing fluid status in patients. Their speed and ease of implementation allows them to be used at the point of care. Currently, BNP is pivotal in the diagnosis and prognosis of heart failure, and is starting to ...

Aim: To examine indicators that may assist in the diagnosis of cardiac etiology using simple tests in witnessed cardiac etiology out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases, which is emphasized in the Utstein Style. Method: The subjects were 165 witnessed cardiac etiology out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases, which were transported to Kobe University Hospital ...

Previous studies have reported possible predictors of drug-eluting stent thrombosis (ST), but data for Asians are relatively limited. This study was performed to elucidate clinical predictors of ST in Koreans. From May 2003 to May 2007, consecutive patients presenting with ST were enrolled from 10 cardiovascular centers in Korea. They ...

Blood cardioplegia yields a lower prevalence of right heart failure, arrhythmias, and myocardial ischemia early after heart transplantation (HTx). Because depolarizing (high [K(+)]) cardioplegic solutions may alledgedly cause endothelial damage, the 12-year outcome of a prospective randomized trial was reviewed. Between January 1997 and March 1998, 47 consecutive patients received ...

Patients rarely consult physicians before developing coagulopathy or bleeding in most reported cases of superwarfarin intoxication. A 57-year-old woman ingested red-dyed pellets of anticoagulant rodenticide containing difethialone and warfarin as well as tablets of nitrazepam. Although she presented to the hospital in a comatose state, notable pink-colored excreta hinted at ...

We present a case of hemorrhagic myocardial infarction after early percutaneous coronary intervention which was suggested by cardiac echocardiography, and later confirmed by post- -mortem examination. (Cardiol J 2011; 18, 4: 448-449).

Objective To evaluate the mid-term outcomes of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES; Cypher Bx Velocity) for de novo coronary stenosis in a Japanese clinical setting, and to compare these with the outcomes using bare-metal stents (BMS). Methods This study was a nonrandomized, lesion-based, and single-center study, retrospectively investigated in October 2010. We ...

Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is a relatively new method of ultrasound images useful during cardiac percutaneous interventional procedures. The first human experience with this method was published in 2000 and, since then, several original trials have enrolled this useful method, proving similar and more useful than transesophageal echocardiography in percutaneous treatment ...

Left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC) is an uncommon cardiomyopathy characterized by the persistence of fetal myocardium with a pattern of prominent trabecular meshwork and deep intertrabecular recesses, systolic dysfunction and left ventricular dilatation. It is thought to be caused by the arrest of normal endomyocardial morphogenesis. There is no consensus on ...

Cardiac impalement injury is rare and one of the most severe penetrating chest injuries, often fatal. The management of penetrating cardiac injuries is a challenging one. The success in management of impaling cardiac trauma requires stabilization of the impaling object, expeditious transfer to a facility for open heart surgery, rapid ...

Intraparenchymal hemorrhage in the full-term neonate rarely occurs more than 2 weeks after birth, and its definitive cause remains unclear. In the present report, a case of a patient with intraparenchymal hemorrhage occurring 33 days after birth is described. Histological examination of the brain tissue obtained during hematoma evacuation through ...

Persistent hypotension subsequent to percutaneous coronary intervention is attributed to access-site bleeding, re-infarction, or mechanical complications either of myocardial infarction or of the procedure itself (for example, pericardial tamponade). Dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction after an uncomplicated percutaneous coronary intervention is an unusual, and to our knowledge not previously ...

Varicella (chickenpox), a common childhood infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus, is self-limiting and usually benign. Although atypical manifestations of the virus are occasionally seen, it rarely presents with cardiovascular sequelae. Cardiovascular complications of varicella can include pericarditis, myocarditis, or endocarditis. Herein, we report the case of a 17-year-old boy ...

Myocardial scarring at the LV pacing site leads to incomplete resynchronization and a suboptimal symptomatic response to CRT. We sought to determine whether the use of late gadolinium cardiovascular magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) to guide left ventricular (LV) lead deployment influences the long-term outcome of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). 559 patients ...

The authors report a case of atherosclerotic stroke in a 46-year-old recreational bodybuilder with a 20 year history of anabolic-adrenergic steroid (AAS) abuse. Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurred during his third week of hospital admission for an acute abdomen and on day 8, postemergency laparotomy. CVA presented with collapse, generalised seizures, ...

Sudden unexpected death autopsy is sometimes non-conclusive both from a macroscopic and from a histological point of view, even if carried out according to the guidelines for sudden cardiac death examination. Molecular biology techniques are required in this setting and may play a crucial role in reaching the final diagnosis. ...

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is a lethal cardiac arrhythmia that if untreated within minutes of its occurrence will lead to sudden cardiac death. Defibrillation using electric shocks is the only choice of treatment to restore the heart to normal rhythm especially in out-of-the-hospital VF incidents. Refibrillation (i.e., recurrence of VF) is ...

Viability assessment of heart muscle after a myocardial infarction is an important step for diagnosis and therapy planning. It is important to quantify the area of edema because it can differentiate between viable and death myocardial tissues. In this paper an automatic method to quantify cardiac edema is presented. The ...

Historically, hypothermia was induced prior to surgery to enable procedures with prolonged ischemia, such as open heart surgery and organ transplant. Within the past decade, the efficacy of hypothermia to treat emergency cases of ongoing ischemia such as stroke, myocardial infarction, and cardiac arrest has been studied. Although the exact ...

Comparative data on the prognostic utility of novel lipid parameters vs. conventional lipid parameters in predicting coronary events are scant. We sought to compare the predictive value of various lipid measures for coronary events and to further examine the incremental value of novel lipid parameters over traditional cardiovascular risk factors ...

The left ventricular phenotype of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) can appear similar in paediatric and adult patients. However, the aetiology of paediatric DCM is usually idiopathic, and often leads an aggressive clinical course. A structural underpinning of DCM is extracellular matrix changes, which are determined by a balance between matrix ...

inflammatory markers may be associated with recurrent vascular events after stroke. We aimed to determine the association between IL-6, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and white cell count, with recurrent vascular events after stroke, and to compare the association between circulating inflammatory markers with the risk of death from vascular vs nonvascular ...

Recently, we provided evidence for a possible role of the cardiac proteasome during ischemia, suggesting that a subset of 26S proteasomes is a cell-destructive protease, which is activated as the cellular energy supply declines. Although proteasome inhibition during cold ischemia (CI) reduced injury of ischemic hearts, it remains unknown whether ...

Histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK-Custodiol) cardioplegic solution is administered as one single dose for more than 2 hours of ischemia. No prospective randomized clinical study has compared the effects of HTK and cold blood cardioplegia on myocardial damage in elective mitral valve surgery. Thus, the main aim of the present study was to ...

Corrected transposition of great arteries often evolves with right ventricular dysfunction. The ventricular preparation for anatomic correction in adult patients has produced disappointing results. To assess right ventricular hypertrophy (RV) induced by conventional and intermittent pulmonary banding (PB) in adult animals. Nineteen adult goats were divided into three groups: conventional ...

Cardioplegia and reperfusion of the myocardium may be associated with cardiomyocyte apoptosis and subsequent myocardial injury. To establish a pharmacologic strategy for the prevention of these events, this study aimed to verify the reliability of our human cardiac model and to evaluate the antiapoptotic properties of the nonselective beta-blocker carvedilol ...

Aged hearts are more vulnerable than mature hearts to reperfusion injury during cardiac surgery because of altered cardiomyocyte Ca(2+) homeostasis. Inasmuch as immature cardiomyocytes have similar properties, a specialized cardioplegic solution (del Nido cardioplegia) designed to protect children's hearts may also be beneficial for elderly patients. Our objective was to evaluate ...

Reducing the heart's temperature by 2-5°C is a potent cardioprotective treatment in animal models of coronary artery occlusion. The anti-infarct benefit depends upon the target temperature and the time at which cooling is instituted. Protection primarily results from cooling during the ischaemic period, whereas cooling during reperfusion or beyond offers ...

Rewarming and reanimating the donor heart from cold static storage predisposes the organ to injury and graft dysfunction. Our main aim was to investigate the effects of 5 minutes of continuous rewarming with a normokalemic, oxygenated, polarizing adenosine-lidocaine arrest solution after 6 hours of cold static storage (4°C) in adenosine-lidocaine ...

The objective of this study was to investigate how long-term cardioplegia/reperfusion affects cardiac nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3). To this aim, rat hearts were mounted in a perfusion apparatus and equilibrated with a modified Krebs-Henseleit solution (KH). The hearts were then arrested by soaking them in cold St. Thomas Hospital ...